


Remnant

by Lefaym



Category: Torchwood
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-07-21
Updated: 2009-07-21
Packaged: 2017-10-08 03:01:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/72003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lefaym/pseuds/Lefaym
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lois searches through the remains of the Hub, and catches a glimpse of the past.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Remnant

**Author's Note:**

  * For [jo02](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=jo02).



> Thanks to used_songs on LJ for the beta.

Lois spends her first weeks at Torchwood sifting through the wreckage of what had once been the Hub, cataloguing the charred remains of alien artefacts—some too dangerous to handle directly—and clearing away the more mundane reminders of the people who had worked here: shards from a blue and white coffee mug, a blackened photograph that turns to ashes when she lifts it from the rubble, a twisted piece of metal that she thinks might have been a fountain pen, once.

It's five days before she finds something that appears to be undamaged, though it does seem to be incomplete somehow. The rounded metallic object, with its silvery panels and tiny inset lights, looks like half of a controller for an outer-space gaming console, and Lois runs her fingers along its smooth surface as she retrieves it. There's a large button on what seems to be the top side, and without even thinking about it—forgetting Gwen's warnings to be careful around anything that might be alien—she presses it, and a moment later—

"Oh my God, I'm sorry!"

The words rise to Lois's lips automatically, before she has time to process what seems to have happened. She can still see the ruins of the Hub around her, but she's also in a tiny bunker, and the mangled camp-bed at her feet is also whole and in the corner, and—

"I didn't mean—I mean—I didn't know—"

Lois halts in her attempt to stammer out an apology when she realises that the two naked men entwined together on the tiny mattress are completely oblivious to her existence. The flush already rising in her cheeks deepens when she recognises them as Captain Harkness and Ianto Jones, even though she knows that it's impossible, that it can't be, because Jones—_Ianto_—is lying frozen in a mortuary, and Captain Harkness hasn't been seen since—since everything ended.

Her embarrassment and the faint beginnings of sadness last only moments, however, before she is overwhelmed with what can only be described as exhilaration, as though a thousand bright lights are coursing their way through her bloodstream. Captain Harkness cries out incoherently, and Ianto laughs, collapsing on top of him.

"You are one filthy man, Ianto Jones," says the Captain breathlessly, as he raises an arm and wraps it tightly around Ianto's abdomen.

Ianto rewards him with a self-satisfied smirk. "I learn from the best, Jack."

Harkness chuckles, and Ianto shifts slightly, so that his head rests against the Captain's shoulder. As he does so, Lois feels the exhilaration shift into something softer, warmer—more intimate.

Ianto closes his eyes, and Captain Harkness turns his head in slightly, so that his chin brushes across the top of Ianto's head. He opens his mouth, as though to speak, and—

"Lois?"

Suddenly, Gwen is there, filling her vision, taking the strange device from her hands. Lois gasps as Captain Harkness and Ianto disappear, taking the bunker, and the exhilaration, and the soft, warm intimacy with them. She finds herself standing amongst the ruins again, shaking and disoriented. She blinks, trying to steady herself, and Gwen reaches out to squeeze her shoulder, more worried than annoyed.

"Lois? Are you okay, sweetheart?"

Lois nods, though she feels tears prick at her eyes for the loss of everything she's just witnessed.

"What did you see?" Gwen asks.

Lois hesitates a few seconds, trying to find the right words. "They—they were happy," she manages at last. "Captain Harkness and Ianto Jones, they were happy together, I think."

Gwen's own eyes fill with tears then, but she smiles at the same time, and moments later, Lois finds herself drawn into a warm embrace. "I think so too," says Gwen in choked whisper.

"That's worth something, isn't it?" asks Lois, as Gwen pulls away from her.

"Yeah," Gwen says. "It is."

For a moment, they both look down at the twisted camp bed, the seared fabric, the melted coils, and Lois wonders how many other memories must haunt this shattered place. And then—

"Come on," Lois hears Gwen say beside her. "We've got a lot to rebuild."


End file.
